Almost Home
Sunday 17th March 2024
Almost home, we’re almost home
So press on toward that blessed shore
Oh, praise the Lord, we’re almost home
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Almost Home
Earlier this week I was listening to this modern hymn by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa and was strengthened by its simple message that we are “almost home” (that is, almost home with the Lord) and its gentle encouragement to “press on” towards that goal.
[You can find the full words or watch the video here: https://www.mattpapa.com/songs/almost-home].
I was particularly struck by the way the hymn mentions the important part we play in helping one another to arrive safely at our destination. One verse asks, “How many pilgrim saints have before us gone?” We are to think of believers who have gone before us in the race and finished well, and to be encouraged by their example to press on ourselves. This is the encouragement of Hebrews 12:1-2, reflecting on the examples of the ‘heroes of faith’ in chapter 11 and supremely Jesus himself: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
Another verse states that “This journey [is] ours together.” We do not travel alone on this journey, and we are not meant to travel alone. We need each other. I need you, and you need me. This is a team race, where we are meant to get each other to and over the finishing line. This is the encouragement of Hebrews 3:13, that we are to “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sins’s deceitfulness.”
Do you share this perspective of what it means to be a Christian? That we are “almost home” and so we need to “press on”? That we need each other, and that each of us has a part to play in encouraging others to “press on toward that blessed shore”? Can you think of those who have gone ahead of you, setting you a good example of pressing on, whom you can follow? Can you think of those who need your encouragement, perhaps those you have not seen in church recently?
Let me leave you with the final verse of the hymn (better still, why not look up the hymn itself?):
This life is just a vapor, we’re almost home
The sun is settin’ yonder, we’re almost home
Take courage, for this darkness shall break to dawn
Oh, lift your eyes, we’re almost home
Father, thank you that we are indeed almost home with you; please help me to press on faithfully, and to be part of encouraging others to run the race to the end. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)